


Gifts

by Mareel



Series: Always [7]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Comfort, Destroy Ending, Friendship, Hospitalization, M/M, Memories, Post-Canon, Post-Leviathan, Post-Mass Effect 3, kaidanappreciationweek2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 22:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4540605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mareel/pseuds/Mareel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place approximately 2 months after the end of the Reaper war. The _Normandy_ has just returned to Earth and Kaidan is with Shepard, who is still unconscious in the London hospital. Except for the first section from Kaidan, it is Liara's voice.
> 
> Written for Kaidan Appreciation Week 2015 on Tumblr, Day 4: Friendship

 

It's been a long night. 

I've only been back on Earth for two days, all of it spent at Shepard's bedside. He'd been stable, but his breathing took a turn for the worse last night. They suspect an infection... so many grafts and transplants and implants. So much could go wrong.

He's back from another surgery and I’m waiting for them to let me in to sit with him again. 

I must be tired. I feel a light touch on my shoulder without having heard Liara’s approach. 

"Do you have any news, Kaidan?"

I sigh in relief, nodding. "He's alive."

________________________________

 

I do not think I've ever seen Kaidan quite like this. 

Even in battles that left him bruised, bleeding and in agony from the migraine induced by intense use of biotics... his hair was never out of place. And he always insisted he was fine. 

Today, locks of his hair fall forward, clinging to his forehead. And the circles beneath his eyes are as dark as the eyebrows in the furrowed forehead above them. 

"Kaidan. Forgive my bluntness. You look like hell. Do you think Shepard will benefit from your exhaustion?"

He bites his lip. I'm unsure whether he is also biting off a sharp response. When he does reply, his voice reflects only tiredness. "I can't leave him. You know? What it something happens... and I'm not here?" 

There is a desperation in his eyes that I haven't seen since those dark days before we learned that Shepard had been found alive after the final battle. 

"Shepard is a survivor, Major. He is getting the best care possible and you just told me he is alive after yet another surgery. I understand that you want to be with him as much as you can, but I know the Commander well enough to know that he would tell you to take care of yourself. He always looked out for everyone else's welfare - all of us on the _Normandy_."

Kaidan runs a hand through his hair again, an unconscious gesture. I see now why it is disheveled. 

"I believe that he would be especially concerned about you – the man he loves. Do it for him, if not for yourself."

His voice is nearly toneless as he hesitates. "I don't know. I guess. But I don't think I'd be able to relax enough to sleep anywhere else."

I consider my next words. It's not an offer I make lightly, but I have grown to think of the human biotic as my friend, not just Shepard's friend. 

"Let me help, Kaidan. I can touch your mind and share some images, some memories of Shepard. Perhaps it could help you relax enough to sleep."

"You'd do that? I thought that was pretty personal for asari... like something you would do with a bondmate..."

He did not reject the idea, which I take as promising. "It is personal, but not limited to those situations. I choose to do this only with those I consider friends. I shared such a moment with Shepard before the last battle. I can share that moment with you."

He nods, gesturing for me to sit next to him on the bench outside Shepard's room. 

"Just close your eyes." 

Without further words, I touch his hand and initiate a contact, showing him not only the farewell I'd shared with Shepard, but another memory – just after the encounter with Leviathan. It had appeared to me that Kaidan and Shepard were the only two people in their world in that moment. 

I embrace him gently in the mind vision and both of our biotics flare a little. "Be at peace, Kaidan. He loves you."

The biotic shield I'd placed around us both shimmers as it fades. He looks at me with clearer eyes.

"That was... I don't know. It was amazing."

"Was it helpful to you?"

He nods, trying to find words to explain his reactions. "That was so personal, the things you shared. I never... I never realized..."

"I have loved Shepard since I first met him, Kaidan. As someone I admired, as a friend. Yes, at one point I would have taken it further, but that was never his wish. I think he was already drawn to you. He always seemed happier after talking with you, back on the old _Normandy_."

He turns toward me, searching my eyes. "That other moment – that's how you saw us together? It's like we were... I don't know... almost glowing as I held him in my arms. I was so relieved to have him back safe."

"It is colored by my feelings, Kaidan. But yes, what you saw is the moment I realized what the two of you meant to each other. It made me happy to see it, and I kept it as a treasured memory."

His small smile is the first I've seen from him tonight.

"Thank you for..."

The door to Shepard's room opens suddenly and one of the nurses beckons. "You can come in now, Major. His condition is stable. The surgery was successful."

On my feet already, I offer a hand to Kaidan to steady him. Our biotics flare a little as we touch hands. 

"Will you join me in watching over him, Liara? If I fall asleep, you'd still be there in case he needs anything..."

"Kaidan, it would be my honor to keep watch over _both_ my friends here tonight."

___________________________________________

 


End file.
